2020 SWPONL Officers & Board of Directors

Chair

Jill Larkin

UPMC, Center of

Nursing Excellence

Past Chair

Jacqueline Collavo

AHN West Penn

Hospital

Chair Elect

Camellia Herisko

UPMC Western

Psychiatric

Secretary/Treasurer

Heather Ambrose

UPMC Presbyterian

Shadyside

At-Large Board Member

Diane Cancilla

UPMC Children’s

Hospital of Pittsburgh

At-Large Board Member

Stacey-Ann Okoth

UPMC Altoona

At-Large Board Member

Lisa Bryan Morris

UPMC Passavant

At-Large Board Member

Beth Savage

UPMC St. Margaret

At-Large Board Member

Lisa Graper

AHN Wexford Hospital

At-Large Board Member

Aimee Skrtich

UPMC

At-Large Board Member

Dawn Klejka

UPMC East,

UPMC McKeesport

At-Large Board Member

Robin Weaver

California University of

Pennsylvania

At-Large Board Member

Lynn Kosar

AHN Forbes Hospital

Emerging Leader

Edward C. Schatz

2020 SWPONL Education Committee

Robin Myers

UPMC Mercy

Lynn Chabalie

UPMC Children’s

Hospital of Pittsburgh

Michele Prior

AHN Allegheny

General Hospital

Christle Critchlow

Butler Memorial Hospital

Deborah Schweitzer

UPMC Presbyterian

Shadyside Hospital

Regina Davin

Washington Health

System

Louise Dobbins

AHN Allegheny

General Hospital

Aimee Skrtich

UPMC

Chair

Dawn Klejka

UPMC East,

UPMC McKeesport

Robin Weaver

California University

of Pennsylvania

Laura Lincoln

AHN Allegheny

General Hospital

Rebecca Weiss

UPMC ShadysideSharon Undereiner

UPMC Passavant

Laura Fennimore

University of Pittsburgh

2020 SWPONL Membership Committee

Chair

Michele Carlson

UPMC Children’s

Hospital of Pittsburgh

Robin Lovelace

AHN Allegheny

General Hospital

Amy Bridgman

UPMC Children’s

Hospital of Pittsburgh

Sarah Sakaluk

UPMC Passavant

Jennifer Shoup

UPMC Health Plan

Shelley Watters

UPMC Presbyterian

Shadyside

Lauren Gorman

UPMC Magee-

Womens Hospital

Susan Gallant

UPMC Health Plan

Diane Cancilla

UPMC Children’s

Hospital of Pittsburgh

40th Anniversary SWPONL Conference #SWPONL40

SWPONL Membership

Current Membership in SWPONL – 230 Active Members

With members representing hospitals, institutions and campuses across the Southwestern area.

Thank you for your participation in SWPONL.

SWPONL Poster Winners – Education and Innovation

First PlaceT A New Era for Cerebral Angiograms: TransRadial (TR) Approach in Neurointerventional Radiology (NIR) Taylor Gasparovic, Pamela Spigelmyer

Second Place2019 Summer Nurse Externship From Externship to Employment: Stitching Up a Successful Recruitment for the Future of NursingTracey Young, Sarah Frank, Ngocthanh Ho, Kyra Savrese, Alexis Oakes; Taylor Irons, Morgan Bittinger, Mandi Paronish

Third PlaceUsing Simulation And TeamSTEPPS To Enhance Leadership Skills In An Undergraduate Nursing Leadership CourseMary Kay Loughran and Pamela Spigelmyer

SWPONL Poster Winners – Nursing Leadership

First Place

Caring For Our Caregivers

Heather Strope, Karen Bray

Second Place

Turning The Tide: Applying A Deep Dive Into Hospital Cleanliness Scores

Susan Simms, Patrick Cassese and Mary Ann Raible

Third Place

The Nurse Leader Residency Program: Developing and Promoting Our Future Nurse Leaders

Sherri Jones, Sharon Hanchett and Amy McLaughlin

SWPONL Poster Winners – Quality and Safety

First Place

Reducing Hospital Readmissions Through Post-discharge Phone Calls for Post-operative

Otolaryngology Patients

Darlene Lovasik, Colleen Cochenour, Cheryl Kleer, Elizabeth Ciardi, Carol Scholle, and Eric Wang

Second Place

Leading Future Nursing Practice with a Proactive IV Rounding Model to Decrease CLABSI

Sherri Jones, Lisa Donahue, Timothy Herzer, Michaele Kennedy and Jane Yutzy

Third Place

Nurse Navigator Enhances Retention Of Patients Post Positive Breast Biopsy

Sheila Farina, Denise Addis, Beth Janoski, and Jamie Varsafsky

Celebrating the

Year of the Nurse

During Nurse’s Week in May, SWPONL member Jackie Kwasniewski

sang during the Nurse’s Week DAISY award celebration. She sang the

song “Rainbow” by Kasey Musgraves. The words were very fitting for

the pandemic and for Nurses Week.

Lyrics

When it rain it pours but you didn't even notice

It ain't rainin' anymore, it's hard to breathe when all you know is

The struggle of staying above, the rising water line

Well the sky is finally open, the rain and wind stopped blowin'

But you're stuck out in the same old storm again

You hold tight to your umbrella, well, darlin' I'm just tryin' to tell ya

That there's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head

If you could see what I see, you'd be blinded by the colours

Yellow, red and orange and green, and at least a million others

So tie up the bow, take off your coat and take a look around

'Cause the sky is finally open, the rain and wind stopped blown'

But you're stuck out in the same old storm again

You hold tight to your umbrella, well, darlin'…

A SWOPNL member who has gone above and beyond: Jenn Shouphas gone above and beyond volunteering to receive COVID calls from the community during two periods of high volume. Initially, when we were first asked to shelter in place and then again in July when call volumes skyrocketed. She did this in addition to performing her regular responsibilities as the manager of the Clinical Education team.

Jenn and other nurses at UPMC Health Plan responded to any and all members of the community who had COVID-related questions, providing CDC-approved guidance in very scary and uncertain times.

Kathleen Morouse, DNP, is an Assistant Professor for California

University of Pennsylvania. Kathleen has 39 plus years of

experience as a bedside nurse and informatics nurse. She

recently transitioned full-time to nursing academia in fall 2019. In

addition to working at CalU, Kathleen is a volunteer for hospice.

When Covid-19 disrupted home visits, she continued to connect

with her patients and families via phone and text messages.

Additionally, she demonstrated her dedication to community

service by volunteering to collect Covid-19 Specimens one to two

days a week. Truly a nurse hero.

The arrival of the COVID virus placed unprecedented demands on

every hospital in the United States. At Allegheny General Hospital

the impact was intense. The surge planning team was challenged to

emergently create a COVID unit - location, equipment, staffing and a

management plan to be fully operational in an instant. Angela

Brown is the manager of our surgical intensive care unit; however

she quickly volunteered to lead this team. With the cessation of

elective surgeries, the post anesthesia recovery room was identified

as the initial unit to house a surge of the COVID patients. Angela

brought a team of volunteer critical care nurses together to provide

staffing to the area. She created an orientation that included

education, equipment set-up, staff scheduling and was able to

trouble shoot all the surprises that came her way! Angela’s

leadership enabled us to successfully meet the challenge at hand!

Shannon has a bright outlook on life and is always smiling. These days, her smile

radiates through the mask that she wears. Shannon was the first and only nurse to

contract COVID in our unit. She spent two weeks at home but kept us all informed of

how she was doing via social media. Her first day back, she requested to be placed on

the COVID unit and is there almost every one of her shifts. She recently was asked to

share her COVID story on Highmark’s Confronting COVID 19 podcast and also invited

by the Pittsburgh Pirates to participate in their “Virtual Opening Day Party” on AT&T

SportsNet as part of their “PNC Park Hero Zoom Audience”. She chose to sit the latter

out and asked if she could extend this invite to a few of her coworkers, of which she

did. After her recovery and waiting a month, Shannon tested positive for COVID

antibodies and has donated on several occasions since.

If Shannon had a superpower, it would be “true sincerity” She is so sincere in every

aspect of her being. Her sincerity shows in her ability to console a patient with her soft

voice, in the way she cares about her fellow workers by putting them first, and her

willingness to give of herself to help others. Shannon was one of the nurses who

refused to let me work on the COVID side because she felt that I was too high of a risk

and she cared about me.

Nurses are courageous, selfless, compassionate, hardworking, dedicated, advocates

for their patients and sincere. Shannon Tully certainly depicts the definition of an

outstanding nurse. She is truly a Hero.

Early this spring, Shawn Vietmeier was promoted to Director,

Hospital Operations, within the nursing division at Allegheny

General Hospital. Shawn’s area of responsibility includes patient

placement, per diem pool, staffing office – with the mission of

patient throughput for the hospital.

Shawn was working through his orientation when suddenly Covid

hit! Normal daily activities stopped and the focus turned to

managing the ever changing environment and challenges of

planning for the unknown. Shawn never flinched – he provided

leadership to the division and successfully managed the chaos of

the day – always calm, always professional! Allegheny General

Hospital thanks Shawn for his leadership and commitment to providing high quality care to our patients.

Congratulations to our Grand Prize Raffle Winner!Michelle DeFabio

Thank you to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort

for this generous donation of a two night stay.

Including tax and resort fees, this prize is valued over $1,000!